Public vs. Private

Steve wants to put his kids in public schools and put the money toward their college educations, but his wife says no. Dave agrees with Steve.

QUESTION: Steve in Houston and his wife have two kids, and they’ve sent them to a private school at $20,000 a year. Steve wants to put them in public schools and put the money toward their college educations, but his wife says no. Dave agrees with Steve.

ANSWER: You have two kids and make $100,000 a year. Paying $40,000 for private education with that income is unacceptable. You cannot win doing that. You don’t mathematically have the option.

Now let’s back up a second. Sharon and I went through this same thing with our kids. There are three reasons people send their kids to private school. One is safety, two is religious values and three is academics. If your wife wants to send the kids to the private school because of religion, I’ve got bad news for you: There are bad kids in Christian schools.

We sent two of our kids to private school when we were broke, and in the first grade the teacher started talking about evolution. I about went through the stratosphere. I expect that in a public school. I’ve got friends whose kids learned how to smoke pot in the back of a Christian school.

That’s not saying that Christian schools are bad, but it’s mythology to think that nothing bad ever happens there or that the kid can live in a bubble. It’s something that only parents believe of young children. No one else believes it.

Christian schools are a great thing and they are great to plug into. But this idea that the kids will be completely cocooned is something you need to break down.

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